The present invention relates to gas lasers, and, in particular, relates to generators of excited state gases by injectors which supply reactants to the gas lasers, and, in greater particularity, relates to chemical oxygen-iodine lasers (COIL).
Many devices are available to produce a single droplet stream such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,819,831; 3,731,850; and 3,983,740. The placement of these devices in a flow channel of a gas laser is not practical.
Atomizer devices produce a spray of particles from a single nozzle. A liquid under pressure is pushed through a nozzle having a plurality of holes in it. A plurality of streams are formed and because of instability each stream breaks into droplets. Although this device produces many droplets, the mixing of these droplets with a gas stream produces non-uniform mixing. An example of an atomizer nozzle is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,700.
Another method of producing droplets is by double fluid atomization. In this method, the liquid is forced from a jet nozzle to form a thin liquid stream which is contacted by a second stream of high pressure gas resulting in a highly turbulent mixing and break up of the liquid stream into droplets. One disadvantage of this method is that the liquid droplets produced are non-uniform in size.
Another method of producing droplets is by the vibrating orifice method. In this process, a plate with a plurality of orifices of preselected size has a pressurized liquid fed therethrough. A uniform spray of droplets can be generated by this device. The mixing of these droplets with a reactant flow to produce a uniform mixture is difficult.